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[Balisarda]

Hello all,

I'm finally growing tired of burning CDs for my car and considering an iPod, but this would be my first Apple or "smart" product ever (I still use an old flip cell phone), so I would REALLY appreciate very basic advice about how to use an iPod with JRiver Media Center. I have a PC running Windows 7 and JRiver MC 20, and all my files are in WAV format. I do not have iTunes installed on my computer.

I would appreciate any help, or pointers to primers, and if I can avoid downloading iTunes and recreating my library I'd be relieved.

Thank you,
Eric

[Balisarda]

Specifically, can I use MC to transfer files, library/database information, and playlists without having to resort to iTunes?

[JimH]

No.

You might consider a device other than Apple's.

[horse]

@Balisarda,

I am in the same boat as you and due to my requirements to only have a single device for phone, music, video and work email and calendaring etc. I struggle with any Android to meet the security and application support required at large companies. And yes I have Android devices, including Galaxy Note II, Motorola RAZR MAXXHD and Nexus 7's.
I prefer the Google handsets and now avoid any that are too closely controlled by the Phone companies.
I use MC to create a Portable device and transcode my lossless library to an MP3 version of just the music I want portable and available offline. I use JRemote if I can stream. (So wish it could could sync and have local copies)

I then use Copy Trans Manager to move them from my server to the iOS device. So far it seems to just work, supports latest iPhone 6 and iOS 8.1.

Best of all worlds.

I am an owner/user of Windows, OS X, Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi's and Roku's. I use what works and doesn't require huge amounts of time to administer. I have no OS religion and can even hack my way around Solaris, Linux etc. when I needed too.

I hate iTunes, although it has got a little better, but this is so much simpler as I don't need to have a MC and iTunes library.
Copy Trans is free and allows me to use MC

[mp3jockey]

and the answer is...Sure!  I sync my iPod classic to MC20 successfully once every two months or so: playlists, cover art and all.  I have NOT brought my classic into contact with iTunes for several years now...maybe since MC 15 or so. Since my collection is a fair size ( 16K files or so-about 600GB or so) about twice a year or so, I will "reset" the classic, and start from scratch, but I never connect it with iTunes.  I resync 4 times a year or so, just to catch updated playlists and music that has been added.  The entire collection rests on an external drive connected to a ZOTAC PC running Win 7 Pro. The files are all APE files, and I have toyed with the idea of converting to FLAC, but I really do not have a good reason to do so at this point:Monkey's Audio has served me well since the single digit MC days.  MC will convert on the fly if needed in any case.  All files on the Classic are MP3's at 320.  I have about 40-50 gigs to spare on the classic when all is said and done.  I was one of the fortunate geeks who realized early on that the Apple closed architecture may not serve me in the long run, so I never used iTunes for music, although I do have movies in the iCloud that I play back on various devices.
I can carry around my entire music library on the Classic, or listen to MC Server via 3G on my S4 using Gizmo.  The Classic mates perfectly with the car receiver, and even controls the Classic, so I'm a happy camper with the iPod Classic 160 that's coming up on 8 years old soon.  As a bonus I have found a pretty "hifi" way to grab music from Spotify... Sweet!